How can I use creative communication tools to help my business stand out?

Let me guess, you are tired of spending your money on the same old advertising strategies with little to no return on your advertising/marketing dollars. You have been doing the same thing for years and it's working (you think) and if it ain't broke you aren't going to fix it.

The problem is that what worked in the past just won’t cut it in the fast paced, online based world of advertising we live in. Forget about doing what you have done in the past and take a look at some new creative communication tools you can use to build your online presence. With social media, blogs, email and sms/text marketing you can easily add a creative flair while communicating with your clients.

Many companies were late to jump on the facebook and twitter band wagon and now they are playing catch up, trying to make up for lost time and generally missing the boat on using social media to benefit their business. With the advent of sms and text message advertising, keyword and QR (quick response) code advertising there are many new creative communication tools to use with your consumer base.

The problem is that most small business are late to adopt these technologies because they are unfamiliar to them. Maybe you are scared of the cost or difficulty to implement such a new technology in your otherwise dull marketing efforts. Don’t be scared to rock the boat, these services are relatively inexpensive and allow you a lot of flexibility and creativity when trying to communicate with the people who support your business.

By simply adding a QR code to your advertising you can easily turn a static advertisement in to a creative, interactive ad to communicate with your customer. You can direct them to a website, online sign up page (OSP) or a video. This allows you to increase your client engagement and interest level with little to no additional cost to you. You can find free QR code generators online by searching “QR code” in any search engine. (http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ is one of my favorites)

In addition to QR codes you can typically find online based marketing software that allows you to send e-mail, sms/text, instant messenger and many other creative communication tools from one place. They typically offer a way to integrate to your social media and allow you to post your content to all of your sites from one central location. This software can help you create a custom database for your business which is one of the most important parts of any small business marketing or advertising strategy. It doesn’t make sense to spend a ton of money trying to bring in new business and then not do everything you can to retain all of those clients.

By using an all in one marketing suite like www.cr8inc.com you can capture data from your clients allowing you to communicate with them the way they want to hear from you. With opt-in advertising you eliminate the feeling people get when they are bombarded with advertisements they don’t want. They sign up for the deals they want as well as how they want to receive the communication from your business.

By focusing your marketing on people who actually want to receive the information from your business you increase the effectiveness of your efforts. It’s not a silver bullet to all of your advertising needs but when used in conjunction with your other marketing efforts this creative method of communication will set your business apart from the competition.